The surface sterilization and isolation of fungal endophytes were carried out by following the procedures described by Park et al The plant samples were washed thoroughly with running tap water to remove soil particles and rinsed six times with distilled water. The separated parts (roots, stems, leaves, and seeds; Fig. 1A) were immersed in 75% ethanol solution for 2–3 min, and subsequently transferred to 5.5% sodium hypochlorite solution for 1–2 min, depending on the different tissues. The surface-sterilized samples were rinsed three times with sterile distilled water and dried with sterile filter paper. Sterile samples were aseptically crumbled into small fragments, evenly placed on Petri dishes containing potato dextrose agar (PDA) with 100 mg/L ampicillin to inhibit bacterial growth. The Petri dishes were incubated at 28 ± 1°C until fungal growth started. To confirm that the disinfection process was successful, a 0.1-mL aliquot of the water used for the last washing step was spotted on PDA plates supplemented with 100 mg/L ampicillin, and incubated under the same conditions in parallel. Plates that were not detected as contaminated by cultivable microorganisms were considered as successfully surface disinfected and used for isolation of endophytes . The cultures were monitored every day to monitor the growth of endophytic fungi. Each colony that emerged from the fragments was transferred to antibiotic-free PDA medium (Fig. 1B), for subculture, and brought into pure culture.